Via TPM, Mississippi finally (as in just last week) ratified the 13th Amendment. Granted that was mainly because they forgot to send the paperwork in, but still…

But there was an asterisk beside Mississippi. A note read: “Mississippi ratified the amendment in 1995, but because the state never officially notified the US Archivist, the ratification is not official.”

@dmsilev: Anyone remember Michael Moore’s short-lived TV show? He’d do juvenile but entertaining things like have Janeane Garafolo land a boatful of scruffy-looking people on the Greenwich, CT, town beach, which is closed to non-residents. In the best segment, he “discovered” that MS hadn’t ratified the amendment and invited a black guy to purchase a white guy. Scenes showed the “slave” picking up golf balls, serving cool drinks, tracking down lost remotes, etc.

@jeffreyw: It was a pilot for another series. It had Robert Lansing as an alien living on Earth, Terry Garr plays his secretary. The cat, Isis, is Lansing’s familiar. And I don’t remember the name of the episode.

God help us. It looks like we’ll be dealing with Ben Carson as the great black hope in the future. As a pediatric neurosurgeon, I hope he supports health care for all, and early childhood education but he sounds like he has a typical wingnut views.

@PurpleGirl: Cheating by going to Wikipedia (entry for Robert Lansing):

…interstellar secret agent Gary Seven in a 1968 episode “Assignment: Earth” on Star Trek. This Star Trek episode launched several novels and an entire comic book series, and Lansing’s likeness alongside Terri Garr became the artwork of many science fiction artists (including drawings on trading cards, novels, and Star Trek episode guides). The last Star Trek episode of season two, it nearly became a new weekly series, but NBC executives rejected it.

ETA: I was a Star Trek snob who called herself a Trekker and not a Trekkie. Trekkers loved the show and even worked on conventions but weren’t like the 12-year-olds who asked earnest questions of Jimmy Doohan about warp drives and the engines, etc.

This weekend, I attended a birthday dinner where everyone was asked to bring a fifth of Makers to the host so he’d have a stash before the watered down product hit the market. We were wondering if he wasn’t actually planning a sale since he ended up with fifteen bottles of the stuff. If so, the market just fell out for him.

I wonder how many people actually look at those “price per oz/lb” whatever numbers on the price tags? I know I do and am amazed hat what Werebear said how more often than not these days the smaller package is cheaper. Just the other day I found it was cheaper to buy the single rolls of paper towels rather than the 6 pack. It is no wonder that the stores make those numbers so small.

@Litlebritdifrnt: And they will make some of them with different metrics, too. Like paper towels; some of them are per square foot, but some of them are not. Just to make comparisons that much more difficult.

@PurpleGirl: He’s a renowned neurosurgeon who’s always featured on black history month posters. Unfortunately he’s a god freak wingnut. Sad that someone as accomplished as this man gave the same answer that Sarah Palin gave, when he was asked about running for president.

This (from his Wikipedia page) tells you all you need to know about his politics:

On February 7, 2013, Carson was the keynote speaker at the 2013 National Prayer Breakfast.[6] Despite the fact that all speakers are told by organizers to steer clear of politics, Carson broke with the non-political tradition of the National Prayer Breakfast and directly criticized President Barack Obama’s policies on healthcare, the national debt, and taxation. His observations, which some have called conservative, created an immediate national reaction. The YouTube video of the breakfast reached over two million views in six days. (Two identical YouTube clips equal over 2 million views.)[7] Conservative commentators from Rush Limbaugh, to Fox News commentators Sean Hannity and Neil Cavuto widely praised the speech as speaking “truth to power”.

I don’t understand what makes someone as smart and as accomplished, and with his background became a wingnut. Even if he was religious, why can’t it lead him to compassion and humanity instead of using religion to justify greed and lack of responsibility for the disadvantaged.

@Litlebritdifrnt: The smaller package is cheaper on a lot of things. Paper towels and toilet paper are usually that way, but look at cereal as well. The stores often run sales on the smaller sized boxes and the price per ounce is much cheaper than the larger boxes. It’s crazy.

Just the other day I found it was cheaper to buy the single rolls of paper towels rather than the 6 pack.

Funny, because that’s exactly the example I was thinking of. I generally prefer the individual rolls, since I go through paper towels slowly and don’t want to devote a lot of shelf space to them, so it was great when I figured out that they’re actually cheaper when bought individually. The thing that really annoys me about it is that the brand I usually buy makes the single roll larger than the individual rolls in the 6 pack- IIRC it’s a bit more than 50% more area per roll- to try to fool people who shop by the roll rather than the square foot.

Quality can make a huge difference. A lot of people who follow my advice and buy grain free food for their pets get sticker shock from the price. Then, they discover that their pets eat less of the food which has actual nutritional value.

It might still be more, financially. But it’s not so huge a difference; and we save money on vet bills, guaranteed.

@Shortstop: That’s good. I wasn’t going to say anything else unless someone started ranting. I’ve got two kids in GS and I try to help as much as possible. My wife just got her camping certification and I’m going to get registered as a GS and teach the kids to camp and help them get their first aid badge.

But, I do understand people’s frustration re: value and packaging, but I think a lot of people don’t realize where that money goes. The GS’s maintain some amazing campsites that only cost about $2-4 a camper per night. Also, the district(s) hands out a lot of grants for lower income girls.

@Cassidy: All that and we don’t ban LGBT members and leaders like the BSA.

I grew up when girls were just starting to play organized sports on a wide scale. There weren’t a lot of leadership development opportunities for little girls, at least not in my area. My time in scouting made a huge difference in my life, and not just because I can handle myself in the outdoors. I see the same opportunities with the low-income kids we serve here in Chicago.

@Shortstop: geez, I sound 100 and I just turned fitty. To clarify, there were always girls’ sports teams at school (with the same five girls on them). There weren’t the big summer soccer leagues, little league for girls, etc., though…that was all just arriving where we lived.

@Shortstop: TV Nation! I still have some episodes on vhs tapes, like the “Get Back” theme where people reunited with grade school bullies and finally asked “WYFP?” And New Yorkers listing their city pet peeves, like:
Elevator Muzak
Dumpster retrieval at 4am
Car alarms blaring at 4am

Mr Moore would locate a flatbed truck with concert amps, or park half a dozen cars, or slam a dumpster right where the offending company executive made his/her luxurious home, and hit “play” on the Muzak, set off alarms etc. Police would eventually arrive and break up the party, around 7am.

I heard an ad on the radio this morning where a retired Army colonel suggested that “President’s day is a perfect time to remember those who fought and sacrificed for our freedom.”

You know, you guys already had Memorial Day. Then you turned Armistice Day into Veteran’s Day. Now you want to make President’s Day into a military commemoration? Can you please stop invading holidays like they’re territories in Risk?

I had never noticed an advertisement for Maker’s Mark until a couple weeks before this became a news item. Amazing coincidence. Demand for their product mysteriously rose so they needed to dilute their product and increase volume. And reluctantly make more money?!

Somewhere around here, I still have a VHS copy of my favorite episode, “Love Day,” where Moore sent various groups around to do nice things for their avowed enemies, like having an interracial group of cheerleaders and a clown dance to “Put A Little Love in Your Heart” outside of a neo-Nazi compound.

The neo-Nazis were very confused, to say the least.

And I remember Mrs. Jesse Helms being very gracious when a Gay Men’s Choir showed up on her porch and sang for her — I’m pretty sure she served them all iced tea and lemonade afterward, but I’d have to check the tape.

“President’s day is a perfect time to remember those who fought and sacrificed for our freedom.”

Also, Christmas, July 4th, and any day on which there’s a major sporting event. Which probably leaves a Tuesday in April which can be declared For One Day Only We’re Not Going To Browbeat You About The Holy Sainted Military Day.